It’s come to this: Lefty groups now offering young people cash prizes to enroll in Obamacare

posted at 1:21 pm on March 19, 2014 by Guy Benson

Obamacare is such a glittering success that the president has unilaterally issued dozens of delays, suspensions, postponements and alterations to the law. It’s such a success that the administration continues to exaggerate and lie about its enrollment numbers. It’s such a success that its administrators have quietly expanded waiver eligibility to include virtually anyone who might want one, an acknowledgement that the law is a “hardship” unto itself. It’s such a success that Obama and his allies have openly abandoned the top three promises upon which it was sold. It’s such a success that only a small fraction of the previously-uninsured population has chosen to participate in it. And it’s such a success that outside advocacy groups, desperate to boost the paltry share of young, healthy sign-ups, have resorted to stunts and bribery (via John Ekdahl):

With roughly two weeks left in the open enrollment period for health insurance, some groups are trying to sell Obamacare to young people in terms they might actually understand: music, comedy, and cash. Young Invincibles, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that is focused on the economic issues affecting young adults, launched a sweepstakes last week where it is awarding a cash prize of $1,200 — enough to potentially cover a year’s worth of health insurance premiums for a young adult — to people who download their health care app or submit a card in the mail. The contest runs through the fall, but by launching it now, organizers hope young people who download the app can use it to learn more about whether they qualify for financial assistance and where they should go to sign up….Young people are particularly lagging behind in other groups in signing up. So far, 25% of those who have selected private plans are between the ages of 18 and 34. Administration officials have said repeatedly that they expect young and healthy people to put off signing up for insurance until the last minute. So groups are getting creative with their approach in the final push.

The administration’s original target for this demographic was close to 40 percent — an outcome experts projected would be necessary to sustain viable risk pools. That goal, like others that won’t be reached, has since been discarded. The appeal of a $1,200 prize may seem intriguing for cash-strapped young adults, but let’s put that number into proper perspective. Let’s say you’re a healthy 30-year-old who is lucky enough to win the sweepstakes and claim the prize. That money, as the Marketwatch story says, is “potentially” enough to cover your first year’s premiums under Obamacare. Potentially. The real number could be significantly higher. Remember, the president just got through admonishing Latino families to ditch their cable or cell phones in order to scrape together enough money to afford Obamacare coverage — which he estimated could cost as “little” as $300 per month, or $3,600 per year. But expenses in that ballpark are precisely what compelled a young, urbanite Obama supporter to confess that he’d decided against obtaining coverage. Avik Roy’s in-depth analysis reveals how young people are likely to suffer the worst under Obamacare “rate shock,” even after factoring in taxpayer subsidies. CNN’s research shows that in the country’s largest metropolitan areas, many low-income young people won’t be eligible for any subsidies at all. Which brings us to the second element of Obamacare’s one-two wallet punch: Out-of-pocket costs. CBS News reports:

The Affordable Care Act is turning out to be less than affordable for some consumers. That’s because many of the plans carry huge deductibles, creating potential financial problems for middle-class consumers. Some “bronze”-level plans, the lowest level of coverage, carry deductibles as high as $12,700 per year for a family of four. The average individual deductible for a bronze plan is a whopping $5,081 per year, according to research provided to CBS MoneyWatch from HealthPocket, a technology company that ranks health care plans. What’s worse, that represents an increase of 40 percent from the average deductible for an individually purchased plan before the federal health care overhaul, according to The Wall Street Journal.

See, young people? You can win a $1,200 prize by signing up for the privilege of forking over five grand in out-of-pocket medical costs…before the coverage you’d be paying into even kicks in. Yes, there’s always the option to choose a plan with a lower deductible, but you’ll pay higher premiums in return. And what about those cheap “catastrophic” plans carved out for young consumers under Obamacare’s rules? First off, they’re not much cheaper than the “bronze” level options mentioned above. Then come the steep deductibles. Jim Geraghty ran through official GAO numbers to expose “the catch” back in January:

The administration insists most uninsured young people will be able to buy plans for less than $50 per month. Sounds great, right? The GAO offered statistics that show the catch. A non-smoking woman, age 30, buying the plan with the lowest possible premium in the state of Virginia would pay $564 per year, or $47 per month. Affordable! . . . Until you realize the deductible is $7,500. That’s how much she has to pay out of pocket before her insurance pays anything. And that’s a bargain compared to some other states…In Oregon, land of the music-video promotional campaign . . . that 30-year-old, non-smoking woman can get an insurance plan with a premium of just $52 per month! Of course, the deductible is $10,000. In Washington, D.C., it’s $53.50 for a plan with the same $10,000 deductible. In Maryland, she can pay $65 per month for that deductible. In Illinois, $68 per month. In Connecticut, $99 per month. In Maine, that same woman can pay $127 per month to enjoy a $12,000 deductible! In Minnesota, that same woman can pay a monthly premium of just $56.92 with a $15,000 deductible. What a bargain!

Click through for links to all of the supporting data. How “affordable” does any of that sound? And that doesn’t even cover any of the substantial premium hikes industry experts are predicting for next year, which the administration is downplaying, not disputing. So which is more persuasive, Millenials: Your bank accounts, or comedy bits starring multi-millionaire movie stars? Young people can either run some quick math and determine for themselves that the “Affordable” Care Act is nothing of the sort, or they can submit to the allure of Obamacare music video contest entrants like this:

“Hey bro, I was totally against paying up to $14,000 in deductibles and premiums for healthcare next year, but then I saw those dancers dressed up as hearts and changed my mind,” said nobody, ever. I’ll leave you with Megan McArdle explaining how young Americans are “killing Obamacare.”

UPDATE – A reader with ties to the insurance industry writes in to dispute some of Jim Geragthy’s GAO numbers excerpted above:

“ACA plans cannot have higher deductibles than $6,350 per person, and all catastrophic plans that I have seen have a $6,350 deductible with 100% covered thereafter. They are also much more expensive than the figures quoted in that paragraph. Sounds like the premiums quoted are from the 2013 pre-ACA plan versions. “

He also says that the “catastrophic plan” premiums he’s seen for, say, a 29-year-old woman in Virginia are closer to $170 per month, as opposed to the lower totals mentioned in the piece. Two points: (1) Obamacare does cap out-of-pocket costs, but that provision has been delayed (surprise!) until 2015 — likely due to the negative impact those caps are expected to have on premiums. (2) Let’s say those maximums do finally go into effect, and that premiums don’t rise even further (even though they will). Let’s run some math. Add the max deductible ($6,350) to monthly premiums ($170, for argument’s sake), and you’re looking at paying nearly $8,400 for healthcare. Here’s another option: Add the average bronze deductible ($5,100) to the premiums described by the healthy, liberal young man in the blog post linked above ($308/month). Obamacare tab: Nearly $8,800. “Affordable”?

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Remember, the president just got through admonishing Latino families to ditch their cable or cell phones in order to scrape together enough money to afford Obamacare coverage — which he estimated could cost as “little” as $300 per month, or $3,600 per year.

Can you just imagine Governor Romney getting away with saying something this outrageous?

As if the Fluking free abortions and birth control weren’t enough…hey, what the F, right? It s all free Obamabucks anyway, who is evah gonna notice. Stupid peasant masses.
Seriously though, I do have to admit, I am getting a different feel for the millenials being portrayed as mindless sheep, in spite of their decades of indoctrination, they do have at least a modicum of sense it seems.

I ain’t signing up for jack until there’s a second set of Ginsu knives on the table.

antipc on March 19, 2014 at 1:44 PM

Slices, dices onions so fast you don’t have time to cry. But wait, don’t order yet, look what else you get. You get the bamboo steamer, takes month old bread and steams it bakery fresh in seconds. All this can be yours thanks to MilliVanillicare.

This Administration is so mendacious that I fully expect, on Friday, April 4th, they will announce that there was an unprecedented surge in new enrollments for Obamacare – to the point that on March 31st, they had 6.7 million total who had enrolled into Obamacare. They will also mention that if they had just 4 more days of enrollment, they would have achieved their 7 million target.

They will declare victory – and run on that ‘victory’ to counter the meme that the ACA is the EpicClusterFark with the willing assistence of the lapdog media.

Of course, the data is little more than the same lies that comprise the unemployment numbers, the Fed Reserve balance sheet, and the GDP / Inflation numbers that are released by this lying Administration.

Many companies have/are moving to HSA plans with high deductibles. Before we all start complaining about Obamacare costs, consider this point of view….

Our company BCBS policy is $6K/family member deductible, the company pays for employee only which means monthly payroll insurance deductions for non-singles of $300-$500/month. Nothing is covered except check-ups until the deductible is met.

Sounds a lot like the Obamacare plans.

The advantage of this over Obamacare? I can put $$ into an HSA account and use it tax free forever to cover medical costs when they occur, and earn interest on the $$.

Not that I would EVER log onto the ACA site and put any of my info in it!!!!!

This Administration is so mendacious that I fully expect, on Friday, April 4th, they will announce that there was an unprecedented surge in new enrollments for Obamacare – to the point that on March 31st, they had 6.7 million total who had enrolled into Obamacare.

Athos on March 19, 2014 at 1:57 PM

Kids! Those scamps always wait to the last minute no matter how much you’ve been nagging them to enroll since October.

I think the O’Butthead administration went wrong at about the time of the “ho’s” campaign (free birth control). What about the unsightly or unhygienic guy/gal who can’t get laid? Or the angry guy/gal who drives all the women/men away.

Get the loser millenials to one of Dingy Harry’s brothels/stud farms, get ‘em laid, and get ‘em covered.

ObamaCare is a mandated tax. ObamaCare is offering cash prizes to enroll. Where is ObamaCare getting the cash to offer as a prize? From Justice Roberts? Or is Sebelius just pulling it out of her ass, much the same as Congress does?

Screw his pen and phone…it’s lazy honestly his executive orders all he does it get sued while being humiliated by Putin. His legacy is sealed his executive orders won’t save his legacy…not that Obama is a long term thinker…

Also, being between the ages of 18 and 34 doesn’t necessarily mean you’re healthy. It’ll be interesting to find out how many of those “invincibles” who signed up, already have type 2 diabetes, serious illness, etc.

They call themselves the “Young Invincibles”??? HAHAHA… Well, yeah, as long as they still get help from their mommies and daddies… and every other taxpayer in the country, sure! They’re, ummm, unstoppable!

Why doesn’t our clown president just set up a carnival on the White House lawn? Ring toss, fish bowls and ping pong balls, Wack-a-Mole, softball pitch, etc.

There’s one going on in the inside, might as well have one on the outside too.

fogw on March 19, 2014 at 2:21 PM

Larry the Cable Guy would have a good ole time with his “guess your bra size” contest. After a good grope and feel, throw out a guess and – “Darn, I was wrong? Well you win, here pick one of these cheap plastic toys as a prize.”

Soros pulled funding for Media Matters trolling on conservative blogs a few months back. So some of the more rabid true believers (those who hadn’t already been banned) went back to their X-Boxes at that time.

The latest HotGas open registration has yielded the current rag-tag bunch of leftist twits that you see posting their nonsense in fits and starts here and there. Really a low-grade bunch who appear to be Daily Kooks who wandered in here by mistake.

And my company is proudly on the record – including Congressional testimony and record – as being profoundly *against* Obamacare, having specifically provided testimony as to the effects the medical device tax was going to have on the industry, on jobs, on patients and costs, etc.

It’s come to this: Lefty groups now offering young people cash prizes to enroll in Obamacare

Dana Milbank is very, very, very disappointed in how the younger generation is insufficiently worshipful ofsupportive ofloyal to Obama and Obamacare.

What went wrong? The president and his aides failed to keep his youth movement engaged. But part of the problem also is the inability of the millennial generation to remain attached to a cause. The generation that brought Obama to power is connected online but has no loyalty to institutions — including, it turns out, the Obama White House.

In 2008, “the level of innovation and engagement in the election, especially the primaries, was amazing, but then the level of engaging them during the administration was extremely disappointing,” says Peter Levine, a Tufts University professor who specializes in youth civic involvement. “He had a potential army for legislative success and implementation, but the Obama administration did not do that. At a critical moment in the first term, they did not turn to them. . . . They got rapid youth demobilization.”

Even if Obama had worked harder to keep his youth army engaged, it’s not entirely clear that the effort would have succeeded. As a group, the generation’s attachment is fickle.

It’s come to this: Lefty groups now offering young people cash prizes to enroll in Obamacare

To be fair, this may be a good idea. Given the risk of identity theft from the notoriously insecure Obamacare website, these young people may need to live off their cash prizes once thieves still their identity and empty their bank accounts.

Old…..parents went to Cuba and all I got was an old smelly Che tee-shirt.

New…..HotAir had a recent open registration and one of our catches was an old smelly confused idiot called HonestLib.

On the young adult front. Sent two kids to college recently and one went in in a Liberal and came back a Libertarian and one went in a Libertarian and came back a Conservative. They did tell me they voted for Mr. Romney. They can’t stand President Obama and are very vocal about that fact.

On the young adult front. Sent two kids to college recently and one went in in a Liberal and came back a Libertarian and one went in a Libertarian and came back a Conservative. They did tell me they voted for Mr. Romney. They can’t stand President Obama and are very vocal about that fact.

HonestLib on March 19, 2014 at 4:10 PM

Obviously you are an excellent parent :)… Cuz am sure it wasn’t their college that taught them so well :)…

When I first saw your handle I responded there is no such thing as an honest lib and that you’d be the first ever.
Well, I’m happy to say I was wrong on the first count.

antipc on March 19, 2014 at 5:20 PM

Hmmmm – I don’t know for sure – but the more I see his posts, the more I question the Lib part – which then calls into question the Honest part…..

In a similar situation, my sister was married to a hardcore union guy and consequently was hardcore left (politically / voting-wise) for a long time. She recently divorced him and met a new guy who is fairly successful and very Republican. As I heard it, one night they were sitting on the deck talking over drinks and he started asking her to explain her positions on various issues. After awhile he just smiled and told her “you’re actually a Republican, you just don’t realize it yet”.